Advanced Chamber Music Interim Recital
2026-08-01 16:00 (America/Denver) | Community School Theater, 1 Community School Drive, Sun Valley, ID, 83353, United States
Featuring select ensembles and solos

Stravinsky’s Firebird and Anna Clyne’s Woman of the Mountain
2026-08-03 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Anna Clyne
Woman of the Mountain
Sun Valley Music Festival Co-Commission
Igor Stravinsky
Suite from The Firebird (1919 revision)

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, written to accompany Diaghilev’s ballet, showcases the composer’s extraordinary orchestral imagination alongside Russian folk influences. By turns shimmering and eerie, the music unfolds with rich color and atmosphere, building with a slow-burning intensity toward one of classical music’s most thrilling finales. Regarding Anna Clyne’s new orchestral work—co-commissioned by the Music Festival—the composer writes: “Woman of the Mountain evokes the journey of an extraordinary woman navigating the forces of the natural world in a quest for love, as she ascends to a mountain’s summit.”

Alasdair’s Take on the Program:
It was hearing the massive thunderclap that launches the Infernal Dance in Stravinsky’s Firebird that made me realize I wanted to devote my life to music.

Childress Conducts Elgar
2026-08-04 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Bohdana Frolyak
Let There Be Light
Edward Elgar
Enigma Variations, Op. 36

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

Stephanie Childress returns to the podium to lead a concert featuring Elgar’s Enigma Variations. His best-known work, it starts off with a pensive four-note melody which Elgar then weaves into 14 variations. In each variation, he imagines how one of 13 of his friends might turn the theme into a different melody inspired in some way by their personality. The first variation is based on his wife, Alice, and the 14th and final variation is Elgar’s own. It’s an orchestral masterpiece.

Alasdair’s take on the program:
As Brits, Stephanie Childress and I grew up with Elgar’s Enigma Variations as an indispensable part of our cultural heritage—it contains the entire range of human experience in one half hour!

Soloist Recital
2026-08-05 16:00 - 17:00 | Community School Theater, 1 Community School Drive, Sun Valley, ID, 83353, United States
Students from the one-week summer program for grades 2-12 who are selected by audition present previously prepared works showcasing their individual talents.

Small Ensemble Recital
2026-08-06 16:00 - 17:00 | Community School Theater, 1 Community School Drive, Sun Valley, ID, 83353, United States
Students from this summer’s programs for grades 2-12 share their work from the week in small ensembles.

2026 Gala Concert: An Evening With Sutton Foster
2026-08-06 18:30 - 20:00 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
The Sun Valley Music Festival is excited to announce that Tony Award-winning Broadway star Sutton Foster will be the featured guest artist at its 2026 Gala Concert. Scheduled for Thursday, August 6, her appearance at the Festival’s only fundraising concert will provide an evening of unforgettable music. (Note: the Gala Concert will be August 6, not August 4 as previously announced.)

Upbeat with Alasdair– Brahms’s A German Requiem
2026-08-07 11:00 - 12:00 | The Community Library, John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall, 415 Spruce Avenue, Ketchum, ID, 83340, United States
In this edition of Upbeat with Alasdair, Alasdair Neale discusses Brahms’s largest composition, A German Requiem. Notwithstanding its title, Brahms’s Requiem is a work full of messages of comfort and hope. This summer, on August 9, the American Festival Chorus, featuring soprano Christina Pier and baritone Benjamin Appl, will join the Festival Orchestra to perform this this remarkable piece.
On Friday, August 7, 2026, at 11:00 AM, the Music Festival will present “Upbeat with Alasdair”, a talk in which Alasdair discusses Brahms’s Requiem. The event will be held at The Community Library in Ketchum and livestreamed on the Music Festival’s website.
Admission is free. Space is limited; reservations are required to attend in person. Reservations open to the public through The Community Library’s calendar on July 27.
Viewers can enjoy the talk in person at the Community Library lecture hall (415 Spruce Ave, Ketchum) or broadcast live on the Festival’s website. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. (MT). The presentation begins at 11:00 a.m. (MT).

Afternoon Pavilion Concert
2026-08-07 15:00 - 17:00
Featuring intermediate and beginning students and ensembles
Prelude String Orchestra
Prelude Choir
Concert Choir
Piano duets and woodwind and brass ensembles
Philharmonia Orchestra

Evening Pavilion Concert
2026-08-07 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Featuring advanced students and ensembles
Chamber Singers
Advanced Chamber Orchestra
Sun Valley Youth Orchestra

Opera Workshop Performance
2026-08-08 14:00 | Sun Valley Opera House, 1 Sun Valley Road, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353
This concert features vocal and piano students from the Advanced Chamber Program performing staged opera scenes and piano ensembles.

Brahms’s A German Requiem
2026-08-09 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Johannes Brahms
Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), Op. 45

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

For all its title suggests, A German Requiem is more balm than dirge, a work offering comfort and faith in the power of love. Instead of the traditional Latin, Brahms selected texts from the German Lutheran Bible (hence the title) that emphasize hope and healing, and he didn’t tie the piece to any particular nationality or religion. Doing the vocal honors are the American Festival Chorus, soprano Christina Pier, and baritone Benjamin Appl.

Alasdair’s take on the program:
Brahms’s stroke of genius in writing this work was to write it for the living, not the dead, and its humanity exudes from every pore.

Christina Pier and Benjamin Appl Sing Lieder
2026-08-10 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Clara Schumann
3 Lieder Op. 12
Franz Schubert
Selected Lieder
Robert Schumann
Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love), Op. 48

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

The soloists from Brahms’s German Requiem offer a recital of lieder (German songs) supported by the Festival’s Principal Keyboard Peter Henderson. Christina Pier’s selections include works by Franz Schubert and Clara Schumann. Benjamin Appl will sing Schumann’s Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love), a cycle of 16 short—sometimes only three lines—songs based on poems about love. It starts out happily enough, with visions of flowers and birds, but ends with the poet contemplating drowning his sorrows, his love, and his dreams in a coffin in the sea.

Alasdair’s take on the program:
Schumann’s Dichterliebe stands at the pinnacle of 19th Century song-writing, and its tale of love and loss will be sure to affect you deeply.

Alexander Malofeev Plays Prokofiev
2026-08-13 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Michael Tilson Thomas
Part II from Street Song for Symphonic Brass
This performance is dedicated to the memory of Michael Tilson Thomas, whose visionary force changed the lives of so many of the musicians assembled on stage this evening.
Sergei Prokofiev
Excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64
Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

Prokofiev’s third piano concerto is the most performed of the five he wrote, and you’ll quickly understand why. He somehow manages to blend insanely quick and percussive piano-playing with lyrical melodies and exquisite harmonies. Pianist Alexander Malofeev, who won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition at age 12, is the perfect soloist to bring this sparkling piece to life. The program opens with selections from Prokofiev’s beloved Romeo and Juliet.

Alasdair’s take on the program:
Last year I heard the brilliant young Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev in Paris and I rushed to bring him to Sun Valley as soon as possible—you won’t be disappointed!

Tan Dun’s Water Concerto
2026-08-14 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Tan Dun
Water Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra
Maurice Ravel
Rapsodie espagnole

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

One of the world’s leading composers, Tan Dun wrote that his Water Concerto was inspired by his childhood life along a river: “I transpose memories of beautiful laundry sounds, swimming sounds, water dancing sounds, and water popping sounds.” The Festival’s Principal Percussion Marc Damoulakis will bring water itself into the music using a variety of vessels. You might want to sit a few rows back. Next, Associate Conductor Euan Shields makes his Music Festival debut conducting Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole, a piece inspired by the composer’s Basque heritage that evokes Spain’s sights, sounds, and passions.

Alasdair’s take on the program:
It’s safe to say that in 40 years of concert-going in Sun Valley, there’s never been anything quite like Tan Dun’s Water Concerto. Prepare yourself for an immersive experience!

Festival Orchestra Pops Night: Come Swing With Me!
2026-08-16 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Richard Hayman
Armed Forces Medley
Come Swing With Me!

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

Conductor, arranger, and composer Jeff Tyzik invites you to Come Swing With Me! Step back in time to the heyday of the 1950’s Las Vegas strip when the biggest names in show business ruled the room and a well-poured martini was always within reach. Tyzik will bring his own orchestral arrangements of some of the great standards, and the soulful crooner Paul Loren will take you on a musical journey highlighting iconic voices of the era, from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin to Duke Ellington and Bobby Darin.

Alasdair’s take on the program:
What a fun evening this is going to be: great songs from a great era and something for everybody!

Gil Shaham plays Barber
2026-08-17 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Thomas Adès
Excerpts from Inferno (Dante Ballet – Part I)
Samuel Barber
Violin Concerto, Op. 14

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

Samuel Barber was a serious composer and a gifted orchestral craftsman perhaps best known for his cinematic Adagio for Strings. Equally lush and compelling, his violin concerto gained popularity for its lyrical and songful first two movements and completely virtuosic third. The great violinist Gil Shaham returns to Sun Valley to share this marvelous work with us. To open the concert, Euan Shields conducts several excerpts from Thomas Adès’s Inferno, whose passages vividly depict episodes in Dante’s journey through Hell.

Alasdair’s take on the program:
I’ve known Gil since I conducted him in the Julliard pre-college orchestra; even then I knew he was destined to be one of the greatest violinists of his generation.

Gil Shaham and Festival Musicians Play Beethoven
2026-08-18 18:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Maurice Ravel
Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and
String Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quintet in A Major, Op. 47b, “Kreutzer”

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

Beethoven wrote a string quintet?? Though it was published after his death, scholars believe the great composer re-arranged his famous “Kreutzer” violin sonata into a quintet featuring two cellos. Full of fiery passion, it features demanding solo parts for each instrument. The program opens with Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet, a piece commissioned by a harp company to show off its instruments. Yet while the harp shines brightly, this is ultimately a shared tapestry that showcases Ravel’s masterful orchestration.

Season Finale: Mahler’s Symphony No. 1
2026-08-20 18:30 - 19:30 | Sun Valley Pavilion, 300 Dollar Rd, Sun Valley, Idaho, 83353, United States
Pre-Concert Chat at 5:45 PM
Lawn Paver Bar

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Titan”

Please enjoy the Summer Season listening list compiled by Peter Henderson, Festival Principal Keyboard. Read and Listen here

The Festival’s Summer Season concludes with Mahler’s first symphony, whose monumental score demanded the largest orchestra ever assembled at the time. An epic narrative of struggle and triumph, it opens with the sounds of nature awakening, moves through dances, folk tunes, and a funeral march that twists “Frère Jacques” into something of a parody, and in the final movement pulls the audience into a heroic journey from despair to a glorious triumph. Watch out for some of Mahler’s tricks along the way–just when you think you might have arrived in heaven, things crash down only to begin the journey all over again!

Alasdair’s take on the program:
Mahler’s first symphony is a staggeringly original first foray into the genre, and it still packs an enormous punch nearly 140 years after its conception.
